Wedoany.com Report-Dec.12, Rivian Automotive unveiled its first in-house autonomous-driving computer chip on Thursday, ending reliance on Nvidia processors, while launching a new paid driver-assistance subscription called Autonomy+ at prices substantially below Tesla's comparable offering.

The announcements took place during Rivian's inaugural Autonomy and AI Day. Shares of the electric pickup and SUV manufacturer fell approximately 8% in afternoon trading, marking the steepest single-day drop in nearly a year.

The company introduced the Rivian Autonomy Processor, a custom silicon chip designed to handle data from cameras, LIDAR, and other sensors. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) will produce the chip. Rivian stated the processor, combined with its new Large Driving Model trained on extensive real-world and simulated data, will support future progress toward Level 4 autonomy, where vehicles can operate without human intervention in defined conditions.

Vidya Rajagopalan, Rivian senior vice president, said the company expects that "at launch in late 2026, this will be the most powerful combination of sensors and inference compute in consumer vehicles in North America."

The Autonomy+ package offers a Universal Hands-Free driving feature operable on more than 3.5 million miles of roads in the United States and Canada. Customers can purchase it for a one-time fee of $2,500 or subscribe monthly for $49.99, well below Tesla's $8,000 outright purchase price or $99 monthly rate for Full Self-Driving.

CEO RJ Scaringe highlighted the long-term cost benefits of vertical integration: “I think the question is when will we want to license it and in what structure? But we absolutely see this as an opportunity.”

Rivian plans to expand hands-free driving capabilities before the end of 2025, introduce point-to-point autonomous operation in 2026, and add"eyes-off" functionality the same year. Next-generation R2 vehicles will incorporate LIDAR for enhanced three-dimensional environment mapping, similar to the system used by Alphabet's Waymo.

"Developing custom silicon is capital-intensive, but it's the right long-term play. Apparently they've already been making investments for several years, so I wouldn't expect any big jumps in costs," said Vitaly Golomb, managing partner at Mavka Capital and a Rivian shareholder.

Rivian also demonstrated an in-vehicle AI assistant capable of controlling certain functions, integrating with mobile applications, and identifying potential maintenance needs. The company emphasized that its combined hardware and software advancements will strengthen performance while providing cost advantages as production volumes grow.